Myanmar is expected to improve its energy access rapidly. Sustainable Energy for All

(SE4ALL) has set a goal of ensuring modern energy services for all countries. Myanmar has
all the characteristics of a country that can benefit greatly from the priorities of this initiative.
The national electric grid extends to serve only a small percentage of the population.
Rural electrification is crucially important for improving the national electrification rate. This
report presents discussion of a rural electrification scenario for feasible rural electrification
alternatives in Myanmar.

Some donors are carrying out a proposed master plan related to electrification. Plans being
produced by development partners, however, underestimate their study resulted to have few
proportion of micro-grids and distributed generation. Herein, we assess alternative scenarios
in which such microgrids play an important role.

For this study, we conducted demand projection, cost estimation, and scenario preparation
for a rural electrification plan. We studied the current conditions of electrical access and made
a demand projection. For cost estimation, we estimated the net present cost for rural
electrification for micro-grids. For optimization, we used HOMER software, which can
compare multiple technical specifications and economical conditions and which can produce
models for dynamic behaviors and lifecycle costs of power sources, etc., which constitute the
system.

Based on these results, we assessed each scenario and proposed policy alternatives for the
rural electrification in Myanmar. Securing great amounts of funding or lowering the target
household electrification rate must be considered for the implementation of the electrification
plan. Rural electrification necessitates the involvement of private investors for financial and
technical reasons. Development of middle-sized hydropower in unelectrified regions is
particularly important. Such installations are expected to supply power efficiently to many villages, increasing the electrification rate greatly with the establishment of center core power stations in rural areas.